Adventures of Old Man ~ Blackfoot

As Old Man was traveling along, he saw a rock, and said, "Now I shall give you this robe." So he took off his robe and put it over the rock. Now Old Man was traveling with his little brother the Fox, and as they went on it began to look like rain, so Old Man sent his little brother back to get the robe. But when Fox came to the rock, and said that Old Man sent him for the robe because it was going to rain, the Rock said, "No, he gave it to me." Then Fox returned, and reported to Old Man. This made Old Man very mad. He hurried back to the rock, and jerked off the robe, saying, "You have been here many years without a robe, and now you will not give it back to me when I need it." Then Old Man went on. Presently he heard thunder. After a time Fox looked back and saw the rock rolling after them. Then they began to run. They ran as fast as they could. Presently Old Man saw some buffalo-bulls, and called on them for help. The bulls tried to stop the rock, but they were crushed. Then Old Man saw some bears, and called to them for help, but the bears could not stop the rock. Then Old Man saw some night-hawks, and called out to them for help. Then the night-hawks flew down, and each time they came near the rock they discharged their flatus, causing pieces to fly off. Finally the rock was broken to pieces, and from the inside came a bear and a bull [buffalo]. Now old Man came to a river where he saw some young night-hawks in a nest. "Oh, yes!" said he, "it was your father and mother who spoiled all my fun. They broke to pieces the rock that was chasing me. Now I shall tear your mouths." So he widened their mouths. When the old birds came back, the young ones told them what Old Man had said. So they pursued him. When they overtook him, they circled around and defecated over him.

As Old Man ran to escape them, he met a man with leggings made of calf-skin. Old Man called out to him for help. Now those leggings were medicine, and the owner caused them to make a fire, which frightened the night-hawks away. Then the two men sat down. Old Man said," Stranger, give me your leggings." "Well," said the man, "I will give them to you in winter. You will not need them in summer." Old Man insisted, and finally the man said he would give them to him after a while. "Well," said Old Man, "I am going over to the lodges you see yonder."

Now when Old Man came to the lodges, he said to the people, "Let us have a game." (This is a game in which the players move in a row. The leader carries a stick one end of which is on fire, and he strikes the stick, causing the sparks to fly around.) Now in this game Old Man led, and carried the stick. The people who were playing were deer and elk people. Then Old Man suggested that they play another game, "Wherever the leader goes." [In this game the players all follow the leader.] They played this until night. Finally they came to a very high bank. Now Old Man played a trick. He said, "Wait!" and crept down at another place; then, running up to the foot of the cliff, called out, "You have not heard me for a while because I have been laughing. I found a nice soft place when I jumped down." So all the animals jumped down and were killed. There were some females among them about to become mothers, who begged Old Man to be allowed to go. At last he granted their request.

Then Old Man dried the meat and kept it. After it was all eaten up, he traveled on again. Finally he came to a place where some squirrels were playing at a game. The squirrels would be covered up by one of them with hot ashes. Old Man asked them to let him play, but they declined. At length they agreed. Finally Old Man requested that he be allowed to cover them all up at once. Now there was one female squirrel who was about to become a mother, and she begged so pitifully of Old Man to let her go, that he consented. As he did so he said, "I will do this that there may be more squirrels in the world." Then he covered all the squirrels with the ashes, and when they became too hot, they called out to be uncovered; but Old Man paid no attention to this. So they died. Then Old Man brought some red willows and made a scaffold upon which to put his meat. Hence, the red willow is greasy to this day. When he had put all the squirrels out on the scaffold, he began to eat. Finally he could eat no more, but there were still many squirrels left. Now he went to sleep, and said to his anus, "If any one comes along, you make a noise and wake me up." So, whenever a bird or an insect came along, the anus made a noise, waking Old Man. This made him tired. Finally he was so sound asleep that he did not waken when the noise was made. Then a lynx came. He soon found the squirrels, and began to eat them.

Now when Old Man awoke, he was hungry, but found his meat gone. Then he was very angry. So he followed the tracks of the lynx, and soon found him sleeping on a flat stone. He caught the lynx, and tried to tear him in two by pulling on his front and hind legs, but did not succeed. Then he banged his nose on the rock, so that the lynx has a flat nose even to this day. Then he pulled out a bunch of hair from the pubes, and put it on the nose of the lynx for whiskers. Now Old Man was mad at his anus for all this. So he took a stick from the fire and rubbed it. This wood smells bad to this day.

Then Old Man started out but the bum was painful and he went up on a hill that the wind might fan it. There was no wind, so he rolled buffalo- chips down the hill in order to produce wind. At last the wind began to blow very hard, and he was carried along, bouncing up and down. He caught hold of bushes and trees, but none of them were strong enough to hold him. At last he caught hold of the birch. This did not break, but held him bouncing up and down. When the wind went down. Old Man was very angry. He scolded the birch for being so strong. Then he took out his knife and slashed the bark. [The cause of the markings on the bark.]

Now the man who promised the leggings to Old Man came with them. He said, "You must not use them every day. Do not put them on unless you want to set things on fire. Wear them on the ice, and when you are hungry, dance and sing, and up will come food. But you must not do these things often." Old Man paid no attention to what was said, took the leggings, put them on, and began to dance, and when he did so they took fire; so he took them off as quickly as he could, and gave them back to their owner.

At this time the women and the men were not married, and Old Man came to a place where the women were going to pick out husbands. Old Man stood among the men, but no one picked him out. This took place in a buffalo-drive. When Old Man found that he had not been chosen, he was very angry. He began to tear down the cliff; then he turned into a pine-tree, and has been there ever since.

Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History, Vol. II, 1908
Submitted by Wolf Walker. From Blue Panther Keeper of Stories.